General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

The eleventh session of the Contracting Parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was held in Geneva from October n to November 17, 1956, under the chairmanship of SirClaude Corea (Ceylon), who succeeded L. Dana Wilgress (Canada). At the beginning of the session Mr. Wilgress warned the delegates that if the trade system provisionally established under GATT were not given more permanent form, alternative machinery was likely to be established. Mr. Wilgress's comments were reported to have been directed at the failure of the United States to adhere to the proposed Organization for Trade Cooperation (OTC) United States foreign trade policy was reported to have been severely criticized during the session, notably by Australia; the Australian representative reportedly said that United States leadership was open to doubt, for one thing because of the failure of the United States government to accept the OTC and for another because of its surplus disposal program. The Contracting Parties, after examining the status of the Agreement providing for the OTC, urged non-signatory Contracting Parties to sign it without delay.